In Front Of Every Star
by NessieGG
Summary: [2 Parts] [NejiTen] Just after Tenten accepts Neji's marriage proposal, she is asked to give up her career and her love for her country. She marries an unmotivated Sand nin, and still the two seek happiness.
1. The Choice Is Mine

**Author's Notes: **I've had this one in my head for a while. It will be a two-parter, and you can expect the next part soon. I hope you enjoy!

**Disclaimer: **I do not own Naruto and am making no profit from this fan fiction.

**In Front Of Every Star**

Part One: The Choice Is Mine

By Nessie

A breeze, chill with the coming autumn, passed along the side of her neck, moving like an intimate touch. Tenten smiled as she twirled a kunai round and round the index finger of her right hand. Leaning her head back, she cast her hazel gaze upon the millions of stars that hung from the overhead sky.

She loved nights like this one, when the wind whispered softly and the trees were full of moonlight. There was no battle to fight, no training to do. And the best part was that her head rested in the nook of Neji's shoulder, one of his arms wrapped possessively around her middle.

"Do you remember when we were children?" she asked him quietly.

His lips were pressed to her temple, and she felt them curve. "Of course. You were so defiant."

"You were so arrogant."

"You were a tomboy," he elaborated with a chuckle that she felt rumble against her back. He could picture her in the air, clouds and endless blue her backdrop, as she fell to rain sharp offense against him as they sparred. She had been much smaller then, less womanly, but just as fierce, always armed. "But I don't think anyone minded."

"You always had scraped-up knees," she recalled fondly, "even with the bandages." His hand turned over, and she gripped it, kissing the scarred row of knuckles. "Did you know…ever…?" _If you loved me then?_

"No," he admitted fairly. "You know how I was."

"Main house, main house, and more main house?" Tenten gave a squeal of laughter when he rolled them both over so that her back was in the grass, and he had her firmly pinned. "All right. Well, I didn't exactly predict anything. I hoped, maybe, for some attention."

"You received it," acknowledged Neji, becoming suddenly interested in the collarbone left exposed by her askew neckline.

"But I was never so foolish to expect you would propose to me." Tenten's smile widened when his colorless eyes fell on hers. "Of course, now that you _have_—"

Neji efficiently silenced her by fusing their mouths, and Tenten mentally admitted that she did talk too much sometimes. Tossing the kunai away, she wrapped her arms about his neck and enjoyed the kiss.

"We have a meeting with the Godaime in the morning," he told her when they broke apart, both breathing irregularly.

She lifted a brow. "Did Lee tell you what it was about?"

"It's not for Lee. Apparently it's not a mission." As he spoke, Neji delved his fingers into her hair, and Tenten instantly decided she liked it when he did that.

With a small laugh, she suggested, "Maybe we're getting a raise."

He looked amused as he pulled her to her feet. "Maybe. Anyway, we have to be there just after sunrise. I think we should get some sleep."

Ever so rational, Tenten thought in amusement. "You weren't surprised when your uncle gave you permission to marry me?" she queried as they walked back toward the resident area of Konoha, leaving their old training ground empty.

"It is only Hinata-sama whose marriage will be arranged. With both my parents dead, Hiashi-sama has limited say over my adult life so long as I remain faithful to the Hyuuga clan. You don't mind living at the compound?"

She shook her head. "Where I live has never bothered me. And you'll be there."

This time it was Neji who smiled. "Yes. I'll be there."

The vow was sealed with another lingering kiss outside her door. Neji's hands tightened on her waist, and Tenten had the impression that he really did not want to leave. She watched him make his way toward the Hyuuga estate. When he had vanished into the night, she looked toward the heavens again. If she could have chosen the sky under which she would agree to marry her longtime love, Tenten would have picked just this.

* * *

"I know it's early. Thank you for coming."

"It's not that early, Tsunade-sama," whispered Shizune in a failed attempt to be discreet. "You were late arriving here!"

"Now, business!" Tsunade staunchly ignored her assistant. "Neji, Tenten. I don't suppose I need dance around details. You are both aware of the Land of Earth's recent hostility toward neighboring countries."

Shizune, file in hand, read from a data sheet: "High-ranking Rock-nin have been invading the Land of Rain and the Land of Grass for months. It is only a matter of time before they seize the Land of the Waterfall, and then move onto the Land of Fire."

"That won't happen," Neji cut in, his confidence high. "Konoha, especially with its current allies, would be especially difficult to conquer."

"I agree," Tsunade said, "which makes it doubly important that our ties with our allies remain strong." Her sharp eyes suddenly swiveled to Tenten, brown on brown. "There are those in Sunagakure who are dubious of our allegiance toward them. Elders there are accustomed to tradition. Kazekage Gaara has suggested that we answer their call for symbolism, something to represent the bond between Wind and Fire."

Tenten felt extremely uncomfortable at this moment, wishing suddenly that it had not been she and Neji who were called this morning. "Godaime-sama?"

"In short," Tsunade told her, "they are asking for a marriage union between a shinobi of Suna and a kunoichi of Konoha."

A weight like a dropping stone or falling hail settled in her heart, heavy and just as cold. Tenten bit her tongue, waiting.

The Hokage watched the younger woman with eyes that grew slowly more sympathetic with each second that passed. "I am asking you to be that kunoichi for the sake of your country. If our bond with Suna was to break—"

"Why should it break for such a foolish reason?"

At Neji's sharp question, Shizune looked up. "Unfortunately, Gaara of the Sand is still under many critical eyes. He is not yet free to execute his full way over Suna. If the Elders there are dissatisfied, he could be forced to abandon us."

"Then why must it be Tenten?" Neji's breathing was labored, his voice rising.

"Tenten is a successful kunoichi. Her record is spotless, her fidelity is unquestioned. She is young. And she lacks heritage, being parentless." Standing, Tsunade walked around her desk, coming toward Tenten. "There is no one else to take part in this decision other than you. This is an administrative advantage."

Tenten nodded, understanding the logic. But she could not see Tsunade well, her eyes partially blurred with shock that she had not yet gotten past. "To accept this proposal the Land of Wind has made…" She trailed, unable to continue.

"You know how these things are done," said the Godaime. "To become a wife of both countries would invalidate your position as a kunoichi. You would be exempt from going on missions and fighting in war, should it arrive, though your Jounin standard is what makes you desirable for the arrangement."

"I would give up my career," she nodded, "and...other things…"

Neji's hand fell on her shoulder from behind, and every muscle she had went utterly tense.

"Oftentimes we must learn to be selfless for our nations," said Shizune quietly. "You love Konoha, don't you, Tenten!"

"Of course!" she exclaimed, the notion that anyone could think otherwise hitting her like a slap to the face. "But—"

"You can say no," Tsunade told her fairly, "and we can hope for the cooperation of the narrow-minded Elders anyway. It will be difficult, but I think it can be done. The problem is that a question of loyalty is not helpful when preparing for attack."

Tenten took slow, deep breaths. It was hard to imagine herself married to a complete stranger, blacklisted from the ninja ranks when she had spent nearly all of her life in the effort to become an accomplished kunoichi. Now that she had achieved that goal, her future seemed bleak. And Neji… _Neji_.

"Who is he?" she asked suddenly, catching the two older women off-guard. Even Neji's hand jumped a bit on her shoulder. "The shinobi from Wind? Anyone I know?"

"I'm afraid not. This man is close to your age, but he only recently achieved Jounin status. He is from a clan working not too differently from how our Hyuuga clan operates." Again Shizune spouted off these facts from a neatly-filed sheet. "His name is Izanagi Hideki."

"Izanagi Hideki," she repeated in a murmur, immediately thinking: _Izanagi Tenten_. Thinking of something, she looked at the Hokage and asked, "Why did you invite Neji here? If this has nothing to do with him?"

Shizune and Tsunade exchanged poorly-veiled glanced. At last it was Tsunade who said simply, "We felt he should be aware of the circumstances."

For the first time since coming to the Hokage's office, Tenten turned to look at Neji. His head hung downward, the long fall of ebony hair shielding his face, but her eyes caught he glint of white just before he turned and stalked out of the room.

Something ignited in her chest. Recognizing it as fear, Tenten hurried to follow him. "Neji!" she called out in the hallway. "Stop! _Stop_!"

At her forceful cry, the Hyuuga prodigy halted beside a window and allowed her to reach his side.

"Are you going to only walk away without a word?" she demanded, wishing she did not feel as though her insides were all solidifying and cracking into pieces. "Neji, the choice is mine…but," she struggled to add the truth, "I can't refuse." She saw him visibly flinch. When he looked at her, his eyes were completely different from those who had asked her to marry him last night.

"It's…" He seemed to reach out for a word and was forced to settle with one he found inadequate. "It's cruel. Cruel that this has happened just now. And you are going to let it?"

"Strictly speaking," (and it hurt so much to say it because her mind was screaming for her to deny all), "I am not taken by you. The Land of Fire could be endangered if we part alliance with the Land of Wind. Were that to happen and it was my fault, I…" Tenten faltered because his glance and the set of his shoulders were making her feel worse with every unconfident syllable. "I couldn't live with myself."

He watched her as though every word she said was one of her daggers flung ruthlessly into his body. "Last night," he said, reaching out to encircle her slim wrist with his hand, "you promised yourself to me." He pulled her closer, and their bodies met. Tenten felt tortured by the memory of how he had kissed her. "Does that mean _nothing _to you?!"

"Neji, even if I marry him—" He tried to break away, but she grabbed him. "Even if I do, you will still be the man I love!"

He stared at her, stricken, because in that instant both of them knew that she _would _accept Suna's proposal and turn away from Neji's. Tenten knew that had been the most wrong thing to say. Neji slipped out of her grasp and vaulted out of the open window. She watched, her pulse sprinting, as he landed safely on the ground and disappeared into the morning throng of Konohans.

This time, she did not follow him.

Presently, she heard the click of Tsunade's high heels on the floor and saw the hands with the blood-red nails on the window sill beside her own calloused palms. "You are very good to this nation, Tenten."

Her voice was flat. "And I am very cruel to him."

Tsunade kept quiet a moment, as though unsure whether or not to proceed. Eventually, her own shrewdness prompted her. "As young as you are, I am sure Suna would agree to give you a year-long engagement period. Then you will be twenty-four years old, and—"

"No," interrupted Tenten, "I don't need a year. Please tell the Izanagi clan that I will marry their son at the earliest convenience. This weekend, perhaps."

The woman who had once been her idol hesitated, but then nodded curtly. "Yes. I'll have Shizune message them today."

Tenten did not go with Tsunade but remained at the window. At age twenty-three, she was a retired kunoichi. Her hands gripped the sill more tightly, but she did not cry. Instead, the gray skies opened up and did her weeping for her.

* * *

A month after her marriage, Tenten was able to make a valid assessment of her husband.

Izanagi Hideki was a lower member of the Izanagi clan, one level lower than where Neji stood with the Hyuuga. It was not that he was an untalented shinobi, but he was unmotivated – hence his unusually late promotion to Jounin rank. In a word, Tenten would describe him as _lazy_.

And not Nara Shikamaru's style of lazy. There was no cloud-watching for this man, and she had yet to detect any hidden brilliance. And – though he was yet untested – she did not have the impression that Hideki would suddenly unleash fierce loyalty when it came to battle in the way of the Nara heir. He knew little restraint, making frequent visits to the brothels near the border, preferring sake over tea.

From the moment she had become a wife, Tenten found herself on the fast track to becoming a skilled cook. This surprised her mainly because she had performed minimal cooking in the past, having little interest in it, and now she was thrust into the world of culinary advancement. It was difficult – while Hideki was never completely in resentment of her food, he never praised it either – she felt, at best, "acceptable." It reminded her of being back in the Academy, but this time her trials felt far less necessary.

Her new situation of being a symbol for Konoha's allegiance presented many annoyances. Any good-weather afternoons were spent walking the fair distance to Konoha in order to buy groceries. Hideki was the only one between the two still doing shinobi work, and he received his missions from his homeland of Wind. However, upon going to Konoha to meet his new wife – whom, Tenten recalled, he had received with initial excitement and approval of both her personality and looks – he had chosen for them to live in a small house closer to the Leaf village, on the Fire side of the border. Tenten had learned later that he preferred the cooler climate and the foliage-rich countryside.

This worked in her favor, at least, because she was able to keep in touch with her friends. Lee was always in the marketplace if it seemed like a day on which Tenten would be there, and he kept her informed of all the latest news that was deprived her in her segregated area.

Neji she saw only in glances; if he was walking on the other side of the street, or if he appeared in the window of the Hokage's office building, a flash of white gaze and black hair. On those days, the return trip home always consisted of her staring at the sky, as though the expanse of air could explain to her why she felt so unsatisfied.

She kept up her training because the feel of vegetable-chopping knives was not enough to satiate her need to use weapons. Hideki had expressed his reproach of it, but sometimes he would stand off to the side and watch as she tossed kunai, shuriken and loosed arrows and other assortments of projectiles – never missing her target.

After a year, she wondered if he was simply envious of her skill. Tenten carried a certain pride for her capacity for dedication.

They got along as they needed to, though at times she was filled with the aching need to scream and fight him, to do something that would obliterate his chronic lack of action. But as far as being a wife went, she was perfect at it. Tenten held her tongue and cleaned her house. The only time she had defied his wishes was when he demanded she start wearing kimono, and she had refused. Her nights were always cold, but Hideki made use of her, and she often fell asleep to the slowing of his pants while the only passion-induced sweat on her body was his (yet another reason to continue training).

One night she was left glowing from thoughts of Neji when it was Hideki's hands on her. She didn't bother to correct her husband's smugness.

Sometimes Tenten wondered why she had not simply let Tsunade plead to Suna's Elders' compassion instead of amputate herself from a life that had been as close to perfect as she had ever dared expect it? She had become a champion of breakfast and dust bunnies rather than a victor of enemies! Tenten reminded herself in these instances that, thanks to the sacrifice she – and presumably Hideki – had made, Konoha and Suna were strong in their alliance.

This was important too, because in the three years she had already spent married to Izanagi Hideki, the Land of Earth was moving in, and already talk of Rock-nin spotted along the border to the Land of Fire was abundant in the marketplace.

_To Be Continued In Part Two: If I Said I Loved You_


	2. If I Said I Loved You

**Author's Notes: **As promised, here is part two and the end of the story. Thanks for reading!

**In Front Of Every Star**

Part Two: If I Said I Loved You

By Nessie

Neji stood in the middle of the grounds that, until four years ago, he had considered _their _place: his and Tenten's. It was both strange and devastating all over again to think it had been so long since he had heard Tenten speak to him. It was no use pretending that he did not think of her every day, whether or not he had tried not to – and he sure as hell _had _tried not to, using everything from missions to seclusion at the compound to try and escape the memory of her.

_Will you be my wife?_

A question posed years ago still haunted him as much as the scent and feel of her. Aiming a chakra blow at a training post, he watched the wood splinter and saw in his peripheral vision a pair of birds fly out of a tree and into the sky.

The beautiful days hurt most, when the skies were lovely, because he could always see her there, dancing with her dragons.

No more.

_I have only ever wanted to be yours. And now I am._

Neji wondered if her voice would sound different now from the absence of battle cries, the lack of admonishments toward him and Lee. He knew she had not changed in appearance. He saw her sometimes, every couple of months if the timing was right, when she walked through the Konoha market to carry food home to her husband, the man who saw her every night.

He had felt thrown into the depths of his own sadness the day Tsunade had explained her course for helping the Land of Fire. And he had watched her wedding using Byakugan, hundreds of feet away from the actual ceremony site. He remembered the words in his head that day, a bitter bidding that she marry a man she didn't love if it pleased her, damning her accursed inability to tell her village no, hoping that stranger Izanagi's kiss kept her warm because he would be fine, _fine _on his own…

All lies and self-deceptions.

Neji's unique eyes spotted a kunai left in a vacant training post; not thrown by her hand, of course, but it would have been in another world.

Troubles would find her, he was sure, knowing how her whole life she had never been able to avoid them. Even if she had left him behind, choosing duty first and him second, he could not detach himself from her well-being simply because of jealousy.

Neji promised himself the same thing he had promised her on that night he could not forget.

_Where I live has never bothered me. And you'll be there._

_Yes. I'll be there.  
_

* * *

One of the few pleasures Tenten had in her marriage lay in the friendships she had formed with other civilian women who lived in the evenly spread cluster of homes distanced from Konoha. It was thanks to these women (Yukiru, Kaori, and Tomoe, by name) that she had eventually grown accustomed to all of her tasks – laundry in particular. 

In return, they revered her, in awe of her tales of missions, of Gai and Lee, of living just ahead of danger and loving it – things that all felt like a long, wonderful dream now. They offered much-needed sympathy when she finally confessed her reasons for being married to Izanagi Hideki and how she yearned to go back to that life that kept her living by the edge of her blade. Many of the women were in arranged marriages as well, but the ones in love with their husbands recognized that she too had once known the emotion. But Tenten made it a priority to never speak of Neji, feeling she would tarnish him in some way.

Most of all, it was Yukiru, Kaori, and Tomoe who helped her realize the entirety of the mistake she had made.

In the fifth spring of her marriage, the three of them appeared without warning, their housewife's hands beating frantically at the door until she heard them from her place behind the house and called them to her. When they found her, Tenten was at the top of a tall ladder, washing the outside panes of the upper-story windows.

"What is it?" she asked, sincerely concerned when she saw their trembling shoulders and blanched faces. "What has happened?"

"Your husband!" cried out Yukiru, the youngest and most newly wed of all of them.

Tomoe tried to elaborate. "Izanagi-san, he…" She shivered even though the day was warm, unable to go on.

Impatient, Tenten slung her dirty towel over her shoulder. This was her only unfading problem with civilian women. They were far too delicate. "Please, has something happened to Hideki?" She had never once referred aloud to Izanagi Hideki as her husband.

It was Kaori, at last, who explained the situation. The eldest of them all, her tone was desperate but loud, her anger steadily rising as she spoke. "He's a traitor, Tenten! Izanagi was found by Rock-nin – they've finally infiltrated the Land of Fire – and he promised them a surrender by first the Land of Wind, then Fire. He's taking them now to Sunagakure to show them secret entrances so they can attack."

At first, Tenten had a difficult time comprehending this message. When the news sank in, however, she responded so swiftly and with such rage that she was moving faster than she had in years. Leaping from atop the ladder, she landed on bent knee before her three fellow wives.

"Quickly now!" she commanded. "I must change. Tomoe, go to my storage house and bring my katana from beneath the box of wood you'll find there! Yukiru, get the large scroll from inside the closet next to the front door! Kaori, there is a pouch filled with small bombs stowed in my china cabinet, bring it to me!"

The women looked frightened of handling these weapons but one fierce look from their friend had them scrambling to obey the orders. Tenten jumped to the branch of a nearby tree and climbed to her bedroom through the window. She pulled a long unused uniform of red and white from the bottom drawer in the chest she shared with Hideki. Changed, she went to her bed for one last thing. Reaching beneath the mattress on her side of the bed, she pulled out her old Konoha _hitae-ate _and wrapped it tightly around her head.

Meeting the three gathered women in front of the house, Tenten stopped for only a moment to utter a word of thanks and hoped it would suffice for all that she wanted to say. They stood watching as she flew from tree branch to tree branch until she was out of sight, and all four understood the real meaning of her farewell:

Tenten would not be coming back.

* * *

She had ruled out going to Konoha to warn Tsunade because, though her friends had done well by telling her what had transpired, there were trained Konoha informants stationed constantly along the border who would have discovered Hideki's plan before three housewives. Chances were good that Tsunade had already been told and had sent out retaliation.

Tenten, however, had her own plans for dealing with her disloyal husband.

They didn't make it far. Bred for speed by Maito Gai, Tenten caught up to them in only three quarters of an hour, though she was dismayed to see that there were four shinobi who appeared to be at least Chuunin status. All she could hope for was that her skills were not as rusty as she feared and that the useless Hideki wouldn't get in the way.

Hideki spotted her first. "Tenten?" He had never seen her fully armed. He eyed the large scroll on her back with some surprise, and then forced a nervous smile. "Just ignore her, gentleman!" he pleaded weakly. "She is my headstrong wife, a bit too impulsive. You know how women are…"

One of the shinobi grinned devilishly, the Earth plate over his forehead gleaming in the bright sun. "I'd like to know _that _woman anyway," he muttered. "What say we strike a new deal, Izanagi? Your wife for— SHIT!"

Tenten watched blood spill from the place where the rude shinobi's lower lip used to be before she had aimed a shuriken at it. Now there was only a jagged cut and a fountain of blood mixed with saliva to mourn its loss.

"You bitch!"

Slowly she drew her katana from the sheath slanting over her back. "I and those who have my respect don't stand for traitors," she murmured, looking at the enemy shinobi but undoubtedly speaking to Hideki.

The injured one's comrades immediately moved forward, but Tenten leapt with all her strength into the air, unraveling her scroll as she rose and using the katana to deflect an upward onslaught of kunai. All ten fingers controlled fully-activated chakra strings in under sixty seconds, and then came the punishment: a volley of metal, blades, spikes, blunt objects – all caught the light and flashed like a thousand stars as her opponents ran for cover.

Of course, being in the wide-open desert, there was no cover to be found. Hideki was spared only because she was a mistress of perfect aim, even when she controlled so many weapons at once.

She needn't have worried about the shinobi, Tenten realized. All three lay dead in the sand, and it had only taken fifteen minutes, tops.

Tenten heard what was sure to be a team from Konoha make their approach. But they could wait. Keeping both her steps and breathing even, she moved toward Hideki, her eyes shaded by the fall of her mahogany bangs.

He stared up at her from his knees on the ground, his face blank with – not wonder – but sheer lack of knowledge. Hideki had only seen Tenten train. She had never cared enough for his opinion to tell him she was actually good in live combat.

"You," she muttered lowly, "are not a man. I don't even believe you havea _spine_. You were ready to surrender and put _both _our countries in the chains of the Land of Earth!" Rage bubbled up quickly, raising the volume of her voice; she was eager to strip her husband of any delusions of pride he had. "You think I don't know about your brothel whores? They've made you weak! Sake has left you soft!"

She saw his mouth turn downward, the frown looking dangerous but that was all. And Tenten didn't fear looks.

"There isn't even a _drop _of warrior blood in you!" she shrieked, nearly seeing red. "I've born all I must of your pathetic whims and needs. Do you know what you are today? A useless shinobi. A dead weight in war. _And _a disgrace to your clan!" The vision of him sitting there without drive on the ground made her want to kick him in the side, but she restrained herself.

Hideki did get to his feet in time. He had been bruised by the enemy shinobi, no more. He gave a small chuckle when he met her eyes. "I've had enough of this joke," he spat at her. "I agreed to this marriage, sure, because I was under the impression that I'd actually get a _wife_. Yet I married you, someone who won't even put on a fucking _dress_. I've been patient with you, Tenten, in your pants and training shoes. I even handled you throwing metal all morning. The gist, _dear_," he snarled, his eyes narrowing, "is that I can't go on being married to a guy! Oh yeah," he said when she looked ready to talk, "I'm pressed to admit you're an ace with a blade, admirably taught…but if someone here isn't what they should be, it's you! You're no woman!"

"No," she seethed, mutiny coming through in her tone. Overhead, the sky began to darken, as though nature was following the lead of her mood. "I'm done. You can go on with your wretched, useless life, Hideki. Live on by letting others die for you. But it won't be as my husband."

"Are you trying to dismiss me, Tenten?" He laughed at that, head thrown back, but she could tell that there was thriving hate for her in his mind. "It can't be done. Don't forget the reason we were married in the first place. The Elders of my village will disapprove, and Konoha will be thrown out of favor."

Tenten couldn't help it. Her lips spread wide, showing teeth, before she broke down in an genuine laugh of her own. "You're a fool, Hideki. Don't you realize? It has been five years since I damned myself to a horrible life by marrying you. The Elders of Sunagakure are _dead_. It is you alone who will lack favor."

She started to turn away from him, but his enraged shout halted her. "No! _No, Tenten! _We could be bound still, the two of us! You could be pregnant now with my child, and that would secure…would secure…"

"Your honor?" Disgusted, Tenten glared, puzzled at what could have possessed her to abandon her integrity and waste five years on such a person. "No, not even then could your honor be saved. I carry no child in me."

"How do you know?" he demanded. "How?"

Her lips quirked upward. "Because every week when I went to Konoha for _your _food, I bought a little something for me: an herbal contraceptive. Didn't you ever notice that I always drank tea before bed?"

Tenten guessed by Hideki's infuriated screams that she had achieved the revenge she hadn't even known she wanted. She left her prison-bound spouse standing alone in the sand, turning instead to face the team that had been sent from Konoha.

Neji stood directly in front of her, only two yards away. Her lungs seemed to become paralyzed, air suddenly precious as she struggled to keep down the shock. But the Hyuuga was then walking forward toward her, and she felt the first icy drops of rain on the back of her neck.

He did not halt his steps until he was standing right beside her, facing in the opposite direction. Tenten knew he could see her as well as if his eyes had been placed directly on her tense form.

"You heard?" she managed to ask, relieved when her voice came steadily.

Neji took a sharp breath, as though he was struck by her quiet tone. "All of it," he replied honestly. They let several tightly-wound moments pass without event until he added, just as softly: "Where will you go?"

She knew better than to think it was out of concern that he asked her. "Home, of course." Forcing her legs to move, she continued onward, never daring to look back, careful to walk in the blind spot of Neji's Byakugan.

Thunder rolled and lightning struck, reflecting the way Tenten felt inside.

* * *

She sat in the trimmed grass of a gently-sloping hill, watching a small stream journey on over stones smoothed to perfection. Tenten had been here for hours, plucking idly at the petals of wildflowers – not in order to predict her admirer's affections as young girls did, but only because she wanted something to do with her hands.

The apartment she had left empty upon her marriage to Izanagi Hideki had not been leased since her departure from Konoha. The landlady, Tenten had learned, had been indisposed to rent it to anyone other than her and had happily returned the documents bearing her signature. The key she carried was the same one she had always owned, and the familiar weight of it in her pocket was like a welcoming gift.

Her friends had made no exception in letting her know they were glad of her return; Lee and Gai had given her such a tearful, overzealous greeting that she was currently doubting the wellbeing of her spine, so forceful had been their embraces. She had shared a drink with the other working ninja in her generation when Tsunade had officially replaced her name upon the roster for kunoichi available for missions – sans the surname. It was starting to seem as though she had never been married.

Of course, little things reminded her that she indeed had been. For instance, the only reason she was sitting here now, hours after night had fallen, was because it had been difficult to sleep in the two weeks since her arrival in Konoha. An empty bed was not easy to tolerate after five years of sharing one, whether or not she had enjoyed Hideki's presence. She found she preferred cool ground to cool sheets, and she delighted in the golden-white glow of tonight's moon.

But the loneliness was still there, and nothing Tenten did could fully banish it.

Footsteps on dewy grass stirred her from her reverie and alerted her to another's arrival at her quiet hill. Casting a sharp-eyed glance over her shoulder, she spotted Neji, luminous in the night with his usual ensemble of pure-white and eyes of silver.

Her lips formed his name, but no sound accompanied it. Their paths had not crossed since the day she had left Hideki, and now, minutes from sunrise, here he was.

"I didn't find you at your apartment," he said, the sound of his voice startling because it was still so recent in its reality.

"That's…that's because I'm not there," Tenten explained, realizing belatedly how foolish a thing that was to say. Neji only exhaled a little, his jaw losing just a bit of its constant tightness.

A quiet settled over them. Tenten had the painful thought that tonight's sky was not so very different from one they had witnessed together half a decade ago, before the world had drawn in around her. Turning away, she buried her face in her hands.

"Why did you come here, Neji?" Her voice was muffled by her fingers.

She didn't see the way his eyes turned downward. "That's something I've been asking myself." He went wordless for a full three minutes; Tenten wondered if he would leave with the revelation that he truly had no reason for being there. "You should know that I tried very hard to hate you," he said at last.

Her shoulders shook with both the effort it took not to sob and the chuckle she breathed out. "I couldn't blame you."

"I even considered leaving Konoha for another country. It was worse than hell, being so near to you without actually having you always in sight. I wanted to be somewhere no trace of you could survive."

Tenten went to her feet but couldn't find the strength to face him. Neji was confusing her. The words should have made her feel like her heart was bleeding, but there was only a dull ache. No accusation was threaded between the syllables. She actually felt _calmed _by the way he spoke to her.

"But I couldn't go. I'd have felt no better than the coward Izanagi turned out to be if I gave up on this country. It took time, but eventually I realized you only left me for the sake of the village…all of the Land of Fire."

She kept her eyes trained on the stream. An autumn-browned leaf, fallen from an oak, appeared bronze in the light as it floated unobtrusively against the bank. Pressure she was unable to ignore rose higher in her chest until she pressed a hand there, trying to contain it. Tenten failed.

"You never married," she blurted out, squeezing her eyes shut because she knew she didn't deserve the beauty of her hometown after what she had put her former teammate and fiancée through.

"No."

"Why?"

Silence stretched, but Tenten had the feeling she was the only one of them truly bothered by it. "How could I have left myself available to your needs if I had?"

Gasping, she whirled – but Neji was there, catching her wrist as they flew at her sides and pulling her body fully against his own so not a breath of air was between them. Tenten's chest heaves with violent emotion, and she had the strangest urge to hurt something – herself probably – but Neji's grip on her prevented her from moving as much as an inch.

"Our lives yielded for reasons you alone saw," he murmured in her ear. The warmth of his breath, remembered in dreams for five years, caused her eyes to fill, the moonlight misting in her vision. Another second, and her cheeks were wet. "But really, they only delayed. I would have died alone before I chose someone over you."

Tenten's sobs came freely now as her arms wrapped around him. "It doesn't make _sense_, Neji!" she exclaimed. Her heart pounded because he had crossed the line. The proper response, she was sure, would be to turn to frost. But she never could. Certainly she had imagined Neji would have thought her cruel to presume he might have continued loving her…though she had felt that way for him, all her life…

She couldn't help wondering, even now, what he would say and do if she confessed that to him. It would be like risking the tide.

"No," he agreed, his smile pressed to her temple in a way that ached with its familiarity. "Perhaps not. But you… You never had his child."

Her hands curled into the loose fabric of his shirt. "I would never force a child to grow up knowing he was the product of a loveless union." She didn't know if was for this very way of thinking that Neji had never stopped loving her.

"Then," Neji ventured after moments filled with her ragged breathing and his racing pulse, "what about a union…not loveless?"

She lifted her head with a jerk, her eyes shooting to his. Tenten searched his gaze for several moments but found him absolutely serious. "I can hardly believe you," she whispered, her hands trembling against his chest.

Her heart might have stopped when he kissed her in answer. Her eyes slid promptly shut, and Neji staggered backward with her until his back met the trunk of a tree. Tenten let herself be held – and, she thought, loved again – suffering the memory of hundreds of nights she had missed him.

It felt like the world drawing in again, but this time, they were part of it. Land, water, air…all seemed to relate to the mending of the hearts reaching for each other during the kiss beside the stream.

"I'll be your wife," she murmured when his lips left hers. "I finally will be yours."

The promise was accepted with his hand at her cheek. "I don't want to tell anyone yet," he said softly.

"It's been a secret for five years already, Neji," she laughed, tilting her head to the side. "Why would you want to hide—"

"Just the sky, Tenten, for now." He pressed his lips briefly to her forehead, then her jaw. "Just the sky will know."

She understood, and smiled. She turned in his arms, reveling in the power of the man that held her. Tenten watched as the sun made its first appearance of the day, and silently declared their love in front of every star in sight.

It felt like their lives, so long delayed, were finally beginning with this dawn. As the day grew bright, so did their happiness.

**The End**


End file.
